Wheel mounting for toy vehicles



March 8, 1966 w. A. GIG

WHEEL MOUNTING FOR TOY VEHICLES Filed Feb. 28, 1965 F1 G. l

United States Patent 3,238,666 WHEEL MOUNTING FOR TOY VEHICLES William A. Gig], Lancaster, Pa., assignor to The Hubley Manufacturing Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Feb. 28, 1963, Ser. No. 261,616 1 Claim. (Cl. 46-221) This invention relates to an improvement in wheel mountings for toy vehicles whereby the wheel units may be made separately and apart from the rigid body of the vehicle, and then readily and quickly assembled on the vehicle to firmly hold the Wheel axle in place.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an axle unit wherein the axle is resilient, and, when it is dropped into suitable fixed journals, pressure may be exerted on the medial portion thereof so that it may be sprung a suflicient distance to interlock with and rest behind a positive rigid keeper element on the body.

A further object of the invention is to provide wheels with a spring axle which may be readily assembled and easily applied to the rigid toy body, which greatly simplifies the initial assembly operation, and also enables the axle assembly to be dismounted if desired for the substitution of other or different wheel assemblies.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a toy vehicle embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the underside of the body of the vehicle shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the axle having its outer end portions mounted in rigid journal openings and its medial portion engaged with a keeper member; the dotted lines indicating how the flexible axle is deflected to be positioned in the keeper.

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a detail perspective view of a modified form of axle support and keeper member.

FIG. 5 is a cross section taken on line 55 of FIG. 4.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Detachable wheel assemblies for toy vehicles have been the subject of prior patents. For example, in some cases, as exemplified by the Peake patent, 1,853,833 dated April 12, 1932, the axles are rigid and the body is also rigid. The rigid axles are held in by a compressible spring clamp. Another arrangement is typified by the patent to McLane, 2,133,771 dated October 18, 1938, wherein the body, including the keeper, is made of elastic material such as rubber, and the wheel axles are rigid. In this case, the keeper and journal portions of the body both being resilient, the rigid axle may be snapped into place.

Other patents also show the general idea, but they do not disclose the feature of making a rigid body with alined rigid journal members, and a rigid keeper located at one side of the axis of the seated position of the axle in its journals so that a springy or resilient axle can be snapped into the rigid keeper.

Referring to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the vehicle body, designated generally as A and including a chassis,

3,238,666 Patented Mar. 8, 1966 is provided with front and rear wheel sets B essentially of the same construction.

As will be seen from FIG. 2, the wheel unit B includes a resilient axle 1 made of relatively stifi spring wire stock and having the wheels 2-2 secured to the ends thereof. This axle assembly has the inner side portions of the axle next to related wheel 2 fitted into the recessed fixed opposite journal portions 3. The flexible medial portion is snapped behind a keeper 4. This keeper is preferably made integral with a support on the body chassis during casting, and is of generally hook-shaped formation. The tip of the hook portion extends to one side of the plane of the periphery of the axle 1 so that when the axle is moved toward the journal portions 3, it will first engage the rounded outer nose of the keeper 4 and then, upon application of further finger pressure, the axle will be deformed and engage behind the inner portion of the hook.

The number of wheels may be varied as desired, according to the individual style of toy. In FIG. 2, for example, the body A would have paired wheels, and hence paired axles so that, it has the general characteristics of a cleat.

Referring to FIG. 4, axle 1 carrying appropriate wheels B on opposite ends thereof is intended to rest in cradle type hooks 5 located at the inner extremities of the supports 6 extending inwardly from an end frame portion of the body A. These hooks 55 preferably open outwardly so that they face the end of the vehicle. Thus, the axle 1* may be readily laid on the arm 6-6 and easily positioned in the journal portions formed by the hooks.

Between the arms 66, an arm 8, preferably formed as a part of the end frame 7, is provided with a keeper portion 9 which is higher than the portions of the hooks 5 so that in order to firmly secure the axle assembly in place, it is necessary to exert pressure on the medial portion of the spring axle so as to cause it to engage with recesses behind the keeper edge 9. The journal 3 and keeper 4 of FIGS. 1-3, and the hooks 5-6 and keeper 9 of FIGS. 4 and 5, are located below the normal plane of the body of the chassis and are fully exposed and accessible only from the bottom side of the body so that the axle assembly must be connected to the said journal and keeper portions by movement substantially perpendicular to the chassis.

From the foregoing, it will now be seen that in both forms of the invention, the distinctive common feature is that the axle itself is flexible or yieldable between the wheels, while the keeper is rigid. This arrangement lends itself to making the body with rigid parts and then connecting the wheel assembly to the body by applying hand pressure to the resilient axles.

I claim: In a wheeled toy, a body chassis of rigid material, rigid aligned axle journal portions depending below the normal bottom plane of said chassis and each having an axle receiving recess accessible only from the bottom face of said chassis and at right angles thereto, said recesses aligned with one another,

rigid keeper means on the exposed bottom face of the chassis and disposed across a straight line connecting both of said recesses,

and a wheeled axle assembly including a resilient axle adapted to be placed adjacent to and aligned with 3,238,666 3 4 both of said recesses and upon being subjected to References Cited by the Applicant medial transverse pressure to snap behind said keeper UNITED STATES PATENTS means and into both of said recesses and to be held 1,853,833 4/1932 Peake. therein by said r1g1d keeper means. 5 2,133,771 V1938 M cLan e.

References Cited by the Examiner 26O1742 7/1952 Kusold' 2,618,897 11/1952 0 h UNITED STATES PATENTS an am 2,133,771 10/ 1938 McLane 46 221 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner. 

